"Very good, you could give that answer. I can tell you really understood what I said earlier." Roger felt no need to refute or express displeasure when Hermione didn't immediately choose him.
Instead, he offered a knowing smile.
Roger had previously said that setting a high goal based on the nature of magic would yield greater rewards.
But that was merely the surface of it.
Hermione saw the truth beneath the surface.
Magic is a miracle of the mind.
If you believe in magic, if you crave magic, only then will magic respond to you.
If one were to re-examine the path Roger had taken and how he managed to succeed on it, using this theory, it would become clear.
It would be easy to discover that, in addition to his innate talent and the abilities of a Seer, there was one other crucial factor: his unwavering conviction that he was on the right path.
He didn't care about external opinions of him.
Whether they respected him as a Seer, viewed him as a demon king, or held even lower opinions, it made no difference.
He was indifferent to respect, fear, disregard, disgust, belittlement, or love.
If something didn't benefit his path to Eternal Life, he wouldn't plan for it, and if something could harm his path to Eternal Life, he wouldn't bother with it.
Saving people, teaching those who engaged in school bullying, and other seemingly 'trivial' matters were all closely related to his path to Eternal Life.
'Mental integrity.'
Doing what he liked, not doing what he disliked, and maintaining his bottom line were among his methods for anchoring himself.
If one couldn't even maintain a firm sense of self, there was no need to think about it – they certainly wouldn't get far on the Path to Immortality.
For the sake of Eternal Life, he constantly absorbed new knowledge, conducted various magical experiments, engaged in discussions with professors at Hogwarts, managed industries to test and refine new constraints, traveled across Europe, and mentored successors.
Always doing what he believed was important and correct—it was precisely this steadfastness and conviction that earned him magic's response.
Now, returning to the original question, how should one choose a path for Second Magic?
Potential is, of course, important. To continue down a path knowing it has significant flaws is clearly not a wise course of action.
But it's not about choosing the path with the highest potential either.
"When we return to Hogwarts, I'll mention your situation to Headmaster Dumbledore, and you can study with him for a while."
"Okay," Hermione nodded.
Receiving Roger's approval further solidified her own conviction.
Potential is potential, and strength is strength.
Not everyone can convert potential into strength.
It's like how computer science has infinite potential.
Creating artificial intelligence, ushering in the next chapter of human civilization's development, wielding network technology to command the internet, writing software that makes countless lives easier and increases productivity...
It sounds wonderful, doesn't it?
But most practitioners can't reach the limits of their professional potential. The reality for most is working overtime as coders, becoming mentally stagnant and then being 'optimized' out, ending up with occupational diseases, and earning just enough money to cover medical bills, if that.
Hermione's choice was to experience several different paths of Second Magic while she still had the chance to turn back.
To find the path that best suited her, the one she could go the furthest on! The high design ceiling of Second Magic is useless; one must find the path where their own realization ceiling is high! "Roger! Come look at this!"
Just as Roger was about to offer Hermione some words of encouragement, Ollivander's voice rang out with surprise from the side.
"Look at this wand, it's different from the previous prototypes..." Ollivander, like Gollum caressing the One Ring, had a sparkle in his eyes as he repeatedly examined the wand, which was still emitting a unique magical glow.
"Oh? Let me see." Roger walked over.
He had no further words of encouragement for Hermione beyond what he had already said.
In fact, he believed Hermione would most likely choose his 'Illusory True Realm' path in the end.
But what she was about to do was not without meaning.
It was like how many people's eventual careers are unrelated to their university majors.
So, would it be the correct choice to forgo studying and start working directly, gaining a few more years of work experience than their peers? Setting aside the extremely rare exceptions created by the convergence of era and individual ability.
In most cases, those who study more are far more likely to achieve greater heights in the future.
Society's recognition of academic qualifications, the connections made at school, the more logical ways of thinking acquired through study, the problem-solving methods learned, and even emotional experiences.
These are all things that hold significant meaning for one's life path.
In Roger's eyes, Hermione might seem to be taking a detour, but the act of taking a detour itself was meaningful.
As he said before, magic is closely related to the mind.
Directly studying his Illusory True Realm, or experiencing various types of Second Magic before ultimately determining that the Illusory True Realm is the correct path and then beginning to study it.
It might cause some delay in the early stages, but in the long run, it could potentially allow Hermione to go higher and further on her magical path!
.
The next day, in the early morning, the sun rose.
Ollivander sighed, "Unfortunately, it can't completely simulate everything in reality. For now, it can only be used as a communication method."
The sunrise meant that Hogwarts' summer vacation had officially ended. Roger was about to leave Ollivanders and head to King's Cross Station to catch the train to Hogwarts.
"It will be perfected one day," Roger said with a smile.
Roger's smile wasn't just a polite gesture; he was genuinely in a great mood.
Technical research was a peculiar thing.
Sometimes, a technology researched for goal A could inexplicably be incredibly effective for goal B.
It was like that little blue pill, researched for heart disease, which unexpectedly became a boon for some men.
Roger and Ollivander were supposed to be researching the combination of Second Magic and wands.
However, after much research, they had unexpectedly unlocked a 'tech tree' that far exceeded Roger's expectations!
[Ultra-Long-Range Virtual World Networking!]
"Once I've handled my return to Hogwarts, I'll contact you, and we can continue our research then."
"Alright," Ollivander replied with anticipation.
Roger's virtual reality technology had always had a limitation.
If two people used VR devices simultaneously and wanted to connect, they had to be very close for Roger to link them using his mind magic and alchemy.
This was why Roger had specifically set aside an abandoned old classroom at Hogwarts to serve as a 'game room.'
Instead of distributing the devices for students and professors to use freely, or spreading them throughout society to usher in the wizarding world's 'global village internet era.'
It wasn't that he didn't want to; it was that he genuinely couldn't.
But now, things were different.
It was currently 1992. The world's first modern internet search engine was created by British network engineer Jonathan Fletcher in 1993, and companies like Google only started to rise around 1996 to 1998.
Judging by the current trend, it was possible that wizard civilization might actually achieve a leapfrog development, entering the information explosion era even earlier than Muggle technological civilization! And it would be a direct jump, skipping mice, keyboards, and screens, straight into the realm of virtual space.
This kind of unreasonable, leapfrog development was also a characteristic of wizard civilization.
"Hermione, have you packed your luggage? If you're ready, hold onto my arm."
"I'm ready," Hermione said, holding her suitcase in one hand and Roger's forearm in the other.
Hermione hadn't expected that she, who had come to witness a new chapter in wizarding civilization's wand technology, would unexpectedly witness a breakthrough in virtual reality networking technology.
How was ultra-long-range virtual world networking achieved? It all started with the wand Ollivander had cherished and brought over last night.
They had thought it would be a sample of a significant technological breakthrough in wand research.
But it turned out to be a mishap; the wand's highly fused state only lasted for a short time before it exploded.
Powerful magic surged back into the virtual world, which had been transformed into the wand's core, causing it to project a vast illusory scene in reality. Not just Ollivanders, but almost half of Diagon Alley witnessed the appearance of the unfinished 'Illusory True Realm' in reality.
Despite it being summer, the sky was filled with falling snow.
Roger naturally tried to cast a spell to erase it and prevent panic.
And it was during the casting process that Roger discovered something.
Although the unfinished 'Illusory True Realm' didn't have much ability to interfere with reality—the falling snowflakes didn't cause any chill, and the illusory snowflakes passed through bodies as if they were just projections—
—those snowflakes actually 'penetrated' when they landed on other wands!
Sunlit forests, silent lunar landscapes, turbulent oceans, perfectly replicated abandoned cities... different virtual worlds within the wand also began to be dusted with fine snow.
Yes, this flawed Illusory True Realm couldn't affect reality, but it could interfere with the weak and ethereal virtual reality! In that instant, an idea popped into Roger's mind.
Nested virtual world structure.
Roger had read a work in his previous life.
A Certain Magical Index.
In it, beings at the apex of the supernatural system were called Demon Gods, meaning Gods of Magic, not Gods of Demons.
They overlaid reality with a 'phase,' and by manipulating their own phase, they could influence reality, arbitrarily manipulating, creating, and destroying all universal laws.
To put it in Muggle technological terms, if reality were an online game, then a Demon God could use a 'private operating system modifier' called a phase to influence everything at will.
And now, Roger found that he seemed to be able to play a similar game.
However, with his current abilities and the limitations of virtual technology, he couldn't influence reality but rather other virtual worlds he created.
Instead of cultivating the 'Second Magic · Illusory True Realm' towards influencing the real world, He would cultivate it towards 'vastness' and 'virtual world interference.'
As long as it was 'fed' until it was larger than the Earth, it could achieve unlimited global networking! Furthermore, by combining it with his 'Conceptual Creation · Dream Shadow' technology, using conceptual creatures' Dream Shadows as relays, As long as there were thousands of planet-sized virtual interference versions of the Illusory True Realm deployed on future colonial planets, the era of zero-latency cosmic online gaming would directly arrive!
Even if you were in the M78 Nebula, you could still have a father-son showdown with Earth, a classic Zaun match.
This thing is way more useful than subspace channels. JPG Filled with hope for the future, Roger glanced at his arm, confirming Hermione was holding on tight.
Apparition!
With a ripple of space, their figures vanished from Ollivander's sight.
.
.
.
Hermione's complexion was a little pale, and she leaned on her trunk, her face ashen.
Clearly, the feeling of Apparition was extremely unpleasant.
If Hermione felt so bad after just one attempt, one could only imagine how Harry felt after Apparating hundreds of times in space.
...After Harry's contact with Roger, he gained greater room for development, but in return, he also experienced a lot, enduring pain that was not originally meant to be in his destiny.
Just like right now.
"Huh?" Roger scanned his surroundings with some confusion.
Arriving at King's Cross Station, Roger saw many familiar young wizards, but he couldn't find Harry.
Having interacted with him, Roger knew clearly that Harry was no longer someone who procrastinated.
Rather than cutting it close, he would likely prefer to arrive early.
But he wasn't here now.
"...Could he have been delayed by some inexplicable event?" Roger's brow furrowed slightly as he recalled Harry's original fate in his second year.
-----------
Machine Translation by: https:// beta.randomtranslator.com/
Read 1111+ original & fanfic translations in English, Español, Português, Deutsch, Français, or Русский at: https:// beta.randomtranslator.com/
Join our Discord: https:// discord.gg/NSWvfN7vua
-----------